Sunday, April 12, 2015

Happy Yuri's Night to all! If you are not familiar with this celebration, the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin, flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961.So for this special celebration I recommend DANCING!!!This is not a children's book but rather a document showing how Yuri's achievement was celebrated. It seems to be from a book of music and choreography that the seller called Star Dance. One of the dances in the book is celebrating how a cosmonaut visited the heavens, dancing with the stars and moon.Star Dance. Moscow. 1964. 20.4 x 25.8 cm (8" x 10.2") 128 pages + 24 pages of photos.

In the introduction to this section you can see the dedication to/inspiration from Yuri's flight.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Another example of space art but not necessarily space ship art for children, I love the colors and painted illustrations in this very thin book (6 pgs!).Punch-out Mobile Solar System (1959) Dell Publishing Co. Racine, WI. No. 151

It was very ambitious. Observe that it contained not only all 9 (8) planets and their moons, but also the Sun, the constellations, asteroids, comets, ring nebula, star clusters, and a spiral galaxy! It is the universe in your own bedroom.